A former Palm Desert football star is breaking rushing records in college

Northern Colorado running back Trae Riek is hoisted into the air by lineman James Floyd following a touchdown in a game against CSU at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado Saturday, September 17, 2016.(Photo: Austin Humphreys/The Coloradoan)

Trae Riek rushed for more yards in a single game than any player at Palm Desert High School when he ran over, around and through the Cathedral City Lions for 456 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-35 win in 2013. The record still stands at Palm Desert.

Riek was a physical anomaly. The strongest player on the team, he bench pressed more than 300 pounds, and squatted more than 450. He also weighed just 200 pounds, and mixed in sub-4.5 second speed in the 40-yard dash.

Riek, now a college junior, is in his third season as the Bears’ starting tailback and holds a number of school records. He has more 100-yard rushing games (8) than any player at the Greeley, Colo. school since it became an FCS Division I program in 2006, and broke the freshman and sophomore records for yardage, touchdowns and yards per carry, to name a few.

He also holds the school’s Division I mark for yards per carry (5.8), most consecutive 100-yard rushing games (3) and has four of the top 10 single-game rushing totals, and is second in school history in career rushing yards (1,489).

“I have no intentions on even thinking about breaking records,” said Riek, who ran for 1,834 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior at Palm Desert. “I’m more of a guy who wants to win games. As long as we win, make a run at a conference championship and in the playoffs, that’s all that matters to me.”

Riek scored each of the last two games, both losses, for Northern Colorado, and rushed for 137 yards on 22 carries during a Sept. 23 win over Idaho State. He rushed for 59 yards at Colorado a week earlier, against last season’s Pac-12 South champions.

With his physical abilities somewhat neutralized due to the speed and physicality of the college game, Riek says he’s finding success because he understands the game so much better than he did in high school. His speed and strength have helped with the transition, mainly because it’s allowed him to focus more attention on the details of the gameplan.

That has helped him with the adjustment to college, he said.

“Everyone comes from high school and you’re the best of the best,” he said. “Now you’re playing against top guys every week, and it’s a huge difference, with the speed of the game. At first you’re getting used to how a college offense works, and when to pick up blocks and protections and checks, but once you establish that and you get used to how a college offense works, everything slows down.

Riek has had to get used to the altitude of playing 4,600 feet above sea level, and dealing with snow as opposed scorching 100 degree temperatures in October. It’s been an adjustment.

He ditched his Twitter account last year to focus more, added a sleeve of tattoos on his left arm, and cut his trademark shoulder-length blonde hair to look a little more presentable.

“Everybody is noticing I cut my hair. Even people back home are apparently noticing,” he said. “It was time for a change.

“I had it for three years and then I came back after I cut it and nobody recognized me.”

Riek still follows his former high school team from afar, too. He doesn’t know any of the players, and his old head coach, Pat Blackburn, has since retired, but Riek said he still reads about the Aztecs’ every week online and has really liked what he’s seen so far from the 5-1 squad.

“The head coach is doing a great job – the new one.” Riek said. “It seems like the kids have bought in and they have a chance to take league this year. I think they’ll do it, but I’m obviously biased.”

Northern Colorado running back Trae Riek tries to evade Rams defense in a game against CSU at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado Saturday, September 17, 2016.(Photo: Austin Humphreys/The Coloradoan)

Riek, who redshirted as a freshman in 2014, has half of his junior season and his entire senior year remaining to play football.

He’s thought a little about life after football, and perhaps a career as a golf course superintendent, like his dad, or working toward becoming a firefighter or entering the military as an officer.

But he also hopes there will be opportunities to play football professionally.

He says he’s faster and much stronger than when he played in high school, when he had eight runs of 20 or more yards in a single game and ran for 299 yards and four scores in the first half against Cathedral City, and that he’s a much better overall football player than he was four years ago.

“You never know what’s going to happen with football, and you hope that you’ve got a shot,” he said. “But I’m prepared whether that happens or not. You hope for the best. There are a lot of great players out there, and you just hope that you’re one of those guys.”